Tracking Down Copyright Infringers – A Painful But Necessary Task

Share this:

Today, I ended up spending my writing time chasing down copyright infringers. What do infringers most frequently steal from WritersWeekly.com? Our paying market listings.

Paying freelance markets published by WritersWeekly.com are completely original listings, created by WritersWeekly.com after interviewing specific editors. They are our original, copyrighted work and they are time-consuming and expensive to create. We pay employees to help us with the work involved in contacting editors, and using their answers to create detailed market listings that feature each editor’s current needs.

I, personally, check and edit each one, and send the finished listing directly to each editor for final approval.

We do not allow third parties to copy our markets because doing so greatly dilutes the value of these markets for YOU, our WritersWeekly.com readers. When somebody steals our markets and publishes them elsewhere, YOU have to compete with THEIR readers for those valuable writing assignments! Therefore, people who illegally copy and publish our markets not only hurt WritersWeekly.com, they harm YOU, our readers, as well.

Sadly, almost all the infringers are fellow writers, and many of those are people who are publishing ezines, blogs and even print publications FOR OTHER WRITERS. And, you wouldn’t BELIEVE some of the excuses we hear, from things like “my employee did it” to “one of my readers sent them in and said I could publish them.” It’s like the old stolen car excuse. Even if you claim you didn’t know it was stolen, you’re still guilty of driving a stolen car.

These writers who have published our markets without permission seem to value their own copyrighted material but many of those don’t seem to care about stealing material belonging to others, and publishing it as their own. Most of the violators we have caught over the years copied and pasted our markets into their own publications, and didn’t even mention WritersWeekly as a source. Even if they had, it would not have made a difference anyway. Publishing our original market listings without permission, even if you give credit, is still copyright infringement

Next week, I’ll expose some of them here. For now, I must get back to the dreaded task of sending out warning letters to the copyright infringers we’ve located in the past few days. This always puts me in the foulest of moods because I feel so personally violated when another writer steals from me. I’m sure many of you know exactly how I feel.

Angela Hoy is the co-owner of WritersWeekly.com and BookLocker. WritersWeekly.com is the free marketing emag for writers that features new paying markets and freelance job listings every Wednesday. According to attorney Mark Levine, author of The Fine Print, BookLocker is one of the top-rated POD publishers in the industry.

Promoting your book online should be considered at least a part-time job. Highly successful authors spend more time promoting a book than they do writing it - a lot more.

We know what you're thinking. You're an author, not a marketer. Not to worry! We have more than a decade of successful online book selling experience under our belts
and we're going to teach you how to promote your book effectively online...and almost all of our techniques are FREE!

Online book promotion is not only simple but, if you have a step-by-step, day-to-day marketing plan (this book!), it can also be a very artistic endeavor,
which makes it fun for creative folks like you!

Yes, online book promoting can be EASY and FUN! Let us show you how, from Day 1 through Day 90...and beyond!

7.625 STRATEGIES IN EVERY BEST-SELLER - Revised and Expanded Edition

At this moment, thousands of would-be authors are slaving away on their keyboards, dreaming of literary success. But their efforts won’t count for much. Of all those manuscripts, trade book editors will sign up only a slim fraction.

And of those titles--ones that that editors paid thousands of dollars to contract, print and publicize--an unhealthy percentage never sell enough copies to earn back their advances. Two years later, most will be out of print!

Acquisition Editor Tam Mossman shares seven essentials every book needs to stay in print, and sell!

POD Secrets Revealed!

UPDATED: 01/15/2019 EDITOR’S NOTE: Please also see “SELF-PUBLISHING? – How Many Book Sales Needed to Recoup Your Investment?” SUMMARY (see details about each firm below) BookLocker: Only $875 (D.I.Y. program only …Read More

UPDATED: 1/15/2019 EDITOR’S NOTE: Please also see the 2019 Self-Publishing Price Comparison HERE. Considering self-publishing? Are you wondering how many books you will need to sell to recoup your investment? LISTED IN …Read More

What are royalties? According to the I.R.S.: “Royalties from copyrights on literary, musical, or artistic works, and similar property, or from patents on inventions, are amounts paid to you for …Read More

This week, we’re going to show you why reading contracts is imperative when considering a P.O.D. publisher. Did you know… 1. AUTHORHOUSE OWNS YOUR PRODUCTION FILES…AND SO DOES ALMOST EVERYBODY …Read More

Follow Us!

How Many Copies Of Your Book Would You Have To Sell In Order To Break Even?

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Please leave this field empty

Check your inbox now to confirm your subscription.

About Us

WritersWeekly.com is one of the oldest and most respected sites on freelance writing. It has been published continuously since 1997. It’s part of the BookLocker.com, Inc. family of businesses, which includes POD and ebook publisher BookLocker.com, Abuzz Press and Pub Preppers.